The Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Poland repaid Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski for his support of the communist regime in China by donating money to a foundation of his wife, Jolanta Kwasniewska, the Polish weekly Gazeta Polska reported. Marek Jurek, a Polish lawmaker from the Law and Justice Party (a center-right political party), called the whole event "a discredit."
Gazeta Polska's article "The Chinese without barriers" by Piotr Lisiewicz provides more details of the close relationship between the big shots in the Alliance of the Democratic Left (the ruling party in Poland whose majority leaders were in the communist party before 1989 reforms) and the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.
In 1998, Kwasniewski (also of the Alliance of the Democratic Left) and his wife paid a visit to China. During the visit Kwasniewski signed a declaration stating that there is only one China, and that it is the People's Republic of China.
Other countries sign similar declarations with communist China, but none goes as far as to interpret "one China" as the People's Republic of China.
In 2001, the Embassy of the People's Republic of China paid 20,000 Polish zlotych (US$5,903) to the foundation run by Mrs. Kwasniewska. International relations experts in Poland have no doubt that the foundation shouldn't have accepted this monty, since the benefactor was a communist regime.
There were other similar contributions by the Chinese administration, such as the Committee for the Preservation of Historical Sites and Buildings headed by another bigwig among former Polish communists, Jerzy Jaskiernia, which received money from the Chinese embassy. However, sometimes the Chinese used a middleman, for example in 2003, the foundation run by Mrs. Kwasniewska again received money, this time from the Chinese?Polish Association.
The close cooperation between the Polish left-wing establishment and China also included frequent bilateral visits. In 2002, the Polish president called on China and a year later the delegation of the Chinese Women Federation paid a visit to the Polish Parliament.
According to the report prepared by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, the motives for the visits and meetings for the Chinese delegates are very obvious. China spends a lot of money campaigning to improve its image around the world, and to make nations and their politicians ignore Tibet and the situation of Taiwan.
Chinese delegations visiting countries around the world have the strict political goal of trying to make international spectators believe in China's "progress" and "openness." Taiwan should be especially aware of these treacherous tactics applied by the Chinese regime to build a net of international arbiters who will discriminate against Taiwan in the international arena; those investing in China or promoting the idea of providing financial aid to China should realize that the communist regime uses their money to seduce people like the former apparatchiks in Poland.
In the Polish capital city, Warsaw there is already a joke spread around: "Taiwanese do not have to invest money in Poland, the CCP is already doing it for you."
Hanna Shen
Poland
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